core inflation

noun

economics

: a measure of inflation that excludes items having volatile prices (such as fuel and food) from the price index being used

The Federal Reserve's past emphasis on core inflation, which strips food and energy from the price indexes in order to gauge the underlying trend of prices, has always confused both Wall Street and Main Street.—

James C. Cooper

compare headline inflation

Examples of core inflation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

The city’s headline inflation rate fell to 1.8% in October from 2.2% the month before, with core inflation — which strips out prices of fresh food — also coming in at 1.8%, down from 2%. —

Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 24 Oct. 2024 Turning north, the Bank of Canada will be watching for more cooling in core inflation in September’s data after the headline rate finally reached the 2% target in August. —

Jason Ma, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2024 On a monthly basis, core inflation climbed 0.3%, above projections of a 0.2% rise. —

Vinamrata Chaturvedi, Quartz, 10 Oct. 2024 Economists at Goldman Sachs, for example, project that core inflation will drop to 3% by December 2024. —

CBS News, 10 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for core inflation

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of core inflation was in 1979

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Core inflation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/core%20inflation. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

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